The mania of the Castillos

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Look at what Sam made! Yes, he had a lot of direction, but he did just about everything: he scooped out the butternut squash, he cracked the eggs, he stirred in all of the cheese and spices, he browned the garlic, he put the lasagna noodles into the dish, and he spread the cheese and squash onto the noodles. It was time-consuming and messy, but also a ton of fun. And delicious!

Summer is just about done for most people, but I feel like we’re just getting start here (mostly because I finally finished classes last Thursday). Sam and I are both out of school for the next month, and we have big plans. The first item on our agenda is swimming lessons! Sam has been really excited about this for about a week. Sam’s class meets 4 times a week for 2 weeks. It’s a beginning level class, which means that he will learn how to blow bubbles in the water, kick, and put his head underwater (they call this a “bob”). I thought it would be a parent-child class, but it isn’t. The 4 kids in the class sit on the stairs while the teacher works with each of them individually. The other moms sit on chairs outside of the pool, but I get in the water with them. Sam wants me in the pool, and it gives me a chance to practice the skills with him while the teacher is working with the other kids.

So how does the boy like swimming lessons? Well, I’d say he’s feeling conflicted about it. As I wrote earlier, he’s been really excited about it. He wasn’t scared to start the lessons at all yesterday. He even let the teacher take him all around the pool without me. He started crying when she tried to get him to float on his back. He cried even more when she tried to get him to do a bob. He calmed down, had fun jumping into the water from the side of the pool, and the lesson ended. As we walked away, he started crying because he wanted to “keep doing swimming lessons”. I asked him what his favorite part was, and he said “kicking and doing the bob”. Nevermind that he refused to do the bob. Later in the day, Sam told us that he was excited to go back to swimming lessons but that he wanted “a better class that doesn’t do the bob”.

There was a lot less crying in day 2. Sam wore some goggles because I convinced him that the bob would be better with them. He still refused to do a bob at first, but did a great job kicking around the pool. Later, as the teacher was working with another student, Sam jumped off the bottom step. His head went underwater briefly before I pulled him up. I said “Hey! You did a bob all by yourself!” He felt pretty good about it and let his teacher do a bob with him afterwards. At the end of class today, he again said that doing the bob was the best part of class. We’ll see what happens tomorrow!

Sam spends a lot of swimming lesson time shouting things like “NO! I DON’T WANT TO DO THE BOB!” and “I DON’T WANT TO BLOW BUBBLES!” and “IT HURTS TO DO THE BOB WHEN SHE’S (the teacher) HOLDING ME!” He’s easily the loudest kid in that pool, and that’s how I know he’s enjoying himself. He spends the whole time jumping around on the steps and making happy shouting noises. I’m sure his poor teacher thinks he hates swimming (and her).

The device in Sam’s tight hand is a kinkerconkrendin Turner. It first appeared last week in our home, but we’ve also spotted a few on lake Washington. they are similar to boats, but they can also go underwater like submarines.

Yes, the pronunciation of this machine is difficult. I’ve been corrected many times.

What we’ve observed:
1. Dino-turtles wiggle their tongues.
2. Dino-turtles have scary roars.
3. Dino-turtles walk on all fours, but their hind legs hop like a bunny.
4. You can pet a dino-turtle, but you have to let it smell your hand first.

What Sam has told us:
1. Dino-turtles are the biggest creatures in the whole wide world.
2. Dino-turtles are very good swimmers.
3. Dino-turtles are very good jumpers.
4. Dino-turtles eat dinosaurs, bugs, and fish.
5. Dino-turtles have hard shells.
6. Dino-turtles have long tails.
7. Dino-turtles live in the forest.
8. Dino-turtles like cold weather.
9. Dino-turtles have big eyes.
10. Din-turtles have very sharp claws.
11. Dino-turtles like videos.

You’ve seen Sam’s old dinosaur costume on this blog a number of times. We originally bought it for Halloween, but he enjoyed wearing it so much that dressing in it became a regular occurrence (which is why we have pictures of a dinosaur under a Christmas tree and with Easter candy). The costume makes an appearance at least once a week. Lately, the costume has been a little tight around his neck, so I decided to order a new one. Goodbye parasauralophus, hello pteranodon!